Ambassadören hälsade välkommen och Koreaveteranernas ordförande, Katarina Eriksson, höll tal.
Bland de inbjudna fanns flera veteraner och även barn (som jag) och barnbarn till veteraner. En av veteranerna som var med, fyllde 100 år för något år sedan och blev uppvaktad av en delegation från ambassaden. Hela dagen genomsyrades av den tacksamhet man känner i Korea för de frivilliga insatser som gjordes under och efter kriget.Speeches were made by the Ambassador and by the chairwoman of the Swedish Veterans, Katarina Eriksson. Among the veterans there was one gentleman who was over 100 years old and still going strong. During the entire day we were told, over and over again, of the great gratitude their country owed to the volunteers.

Våra värdar tog hand om oss med värme och humor. En bild på mig själv (4 år) i Koreadräkt och pappa som sjuksköterskeelev väckte stort intresse.All our hosts were warmly, and with a great sense of humour,taking care of us.
Vid kaffet berättade ambassadören om ett möte med nordkoreanska arbetare i ett gemensamt företag vid demarkationslinjen. Man bjöd på chokladkakor och de nordkoreanska arbetarna gömde dem för att låta familjen smaka. Han rördes av att han upplevde att syd och nord fortfarande hade värderingar gemensamma, främst det att dela med sig av det lilla man har. Man anade i hans tal den starka längtan till en återförening.After dinner the Ambassador told us about an event when he and a delegation of Southkoreans were visiting a joint venture on the demarcation line and there presented the Northkoreans with a chocolate cookie each. He was moved when he realized that the south and the north still held high some common values. You see, the Northkoreans did'nt eat the cookie but saved it to share with their families, just like the Southkoreans would have done. Familiy values...share what little you have. One could sense how strong his longning was for a reunion.

Jag fick en fin gåva i en vacker påse. I had a wonderful gift in an oh so pretty bag.
Maten var en upplevelse i sig. Kryddstark och god! Jag åt kimchi för första gången.The food was an experience in itself. I had kimchi for the first time...and liked it. The food was spicy and I like spicy.

(Kräftstjärten ligger där för sin skönhets skull) (The prawn is just there for decoration. I'm, allergic to shellfish.)

Det starkaste intrycket gjorde en spelfilm 'Till min far' som visar en mans liv från kriget till idag. Vilket också speglar landets utveckling från fattigdom till framgång.We were shown a movie about a man from his childhood during the war up until today. One could follow Korea's development through his experiences.
Särskilt de första sekvenserna i filmen rörde mig för det var vad min pappa såg när han var där. En annan vinkel än serien M.A.S.H. It was very emotional to watch
the first part, from 1950, because it gave me a glimpse of what my father
must hav seen when he was there and from an angle different from the
M.A.S.H. series.

När min far, Birger Lind, som frivillig, reste till Korea, hade han bakom sig varannandagsskola och ingen utlandserfarenhet. Men en stor kunskapstörst och säkert en längtan efter äventyr. När han kom hem igen var han fast besluten att läsa vidare. Han hade sett sjukvården i dess mest dramatiska form och det hade djupt berört honom. Han förstod också att om man ville göra en insats i samhället, så var vården ett väl valt område. Efter fyra år av arbete och kvällsstudier och en tid på Viskadalens folkögskola blev han antagen till sjuksköterskeskolan i Borås 1957.
Under försommaren 1958 började han få smärtor i magen som han sköt undan för allt arbete med skolan. Smärtorna tilltog, men han tyckte inte att man skulle sjåpa sig - han hade sett människor amputeras utan tillräcklig bedövning, i Korea. Så hans blindtarm sprack vilket ledde till bukinflammation. Vid den tiden var det svårt att få bukt med en sån infektion och i början av juli avled pappa. Han lämnade efter sig min mamma, min nyfödda syster och mig.When my father, Birger Lind, left for Korea, he only had the most rudimentary schooling - only allowed school every other day up until the age of 14 when he was considered an adult and expected to work. But his hunger for knowledge was great as was probably also his longing for adventure.When he came back from Kora, his mind was set. He wanted to study. As a social democrat through and through, he wanted to do his part for a better society and what better way than to help the sick?He had seen nursing it its most dramatic form in Korea but he knew also that there was much work to do in Sweden. So he worked and studied hard and finally in 1957 he was admitted to the nursing school in Borås.When he started to have stomch pains he ignored them. He had seen people suffer much worse agony in Korea, he said, so why complain about tummy ache.... And then his appendix burst and caused generlized peritonitis and in 1958 they couldn't cope with that. In July he passed away leaving my mother, my new born sister and me without a father.

Det var en tröst att få möta människorna på Koreas ambassad och få höra om landets djupa tacksamhet till de frivilliga vid de svenska sjukhusen under och efter kriget.I must say it was a great comfort to meet the people at the Korean Embassy and learn about their country's deep gratitude to all the volunteers at the Swedish Red Cross hospitals during and after the war.

" I was lucky enough to get a place on Britt-Marie Christoffersson's weekend workshop at The Halland County Museum of Art in Halmstad on the Swedish southwest coast. Though there was sleet and an icy wind outside, indoors there was nothing but warmth, joy and inspiration.

This, Britt-Marie's third exhibition, has been in the making for about 10 years. It is part of a longstanding work effort to show the developemental possibilities in knitting. Her first, Swedish Sweaters (also book) researched the history of Swedish knitting. The second was Knitting, a Craft to Develop (also book. In Swedish 'Stickning, ett hantverk att utveckla'. A rather crude version in English exists called 'Pop Knitting').

We were a cosy little group of six and we were seated right in the middle of the exhibition, close to BMC:s work that we were trying to learn off. The walls of the 100m2 room was covered in
swatches showing each stitch systematically developed from the simples
to the complicated to the free creation. New and old embroidery stitches were tested on some nice swatches, provided by BMC. A good tip is to get any basic book on embroidery.

Though focus was on the stitches, there were also e few examples of how on could use them on, say, sweaters. Though not shown, they could be useful on pillows too.

We also had a visitor: Sonoko Törngren Sato, a writer an photographer came to document the exhibition for the Japanese magazine Keito Dama. Sonoko has worked, for many years, to promote Swedish handicraft in Japan."

Mello hade tagit över Halmstad men det utmärkta hotellet, Clarion Norre Park klarade sig nästan oskatt. Utsikt över Norre Katts park där kajorna hade kvällsmöte. Arrived in Halmstad to find the town taken over by the song contest Mello. My hotel, Clarion Norre Park was excellent!My room had a view over the park with trees were jackdaws congregated in the evening.

Detalj från en barntröja där fokus var på fickor.
BMC talade också en del om varitioner på konstruktion, t.ex. hopsydda remsor eller fyrkanter som ses i den röda och den beiga koftan.One child's sweater focused on pockets. The little black guy was part of one such pocket. BMC also talked a bit about different ways of constructing sweaters. The red one was made of stripes sewn together with the seam on the right side and the beige one had squares over sleeves and shoulders and at the bottom.

Inspirerad till tusen! Önskar mig bara mer tid!!The weekend gave me so much inspiration! I wish there were more hours in th day and more days in a week!
Utställningen går vidare. Närmast på tur är Ronneby. I
september beräknas den nå Borås.The exhibition will be shown at different places in Sweden. First, Ronneby and in September, Borås.